Chief Executive Officer of Cotton Weblink Limited, Mr. Davies Narh Korboe has called on certification bodies to pay regular visits to park houses to ensure that products being produced in such facilities met set standards.
According to Mr. Korboe who is also Chairman of the National Farmers and Fishermen Award Winners Association of Ghana, NFFAWAG, ensuring the certification of products at the production stages is a better check than discharging this responsibility at the ports.
Farmer Davies made the call when executives of the Cotton Weblink Limited hosted a delegation from the Food and Drugs Authority at the Akorley Pack House in the Yilo Krobo municipality.
The purpose of the call by the FDA was among others to offer the delegation the opportunity to familiarize themselves with and interact with the facility in a bit to determine if it meets set standards.
The visit followed an in-house training for staff of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) by an external auditor where the trainees were required as part of their training to visit the pack house.
The visit also provided the platform for a question and answer session where appropriate recommendations are expected to be taken by the Pack House into consideration to ensure food safety.
Chief Executive Officer of Cotton Weblink Limited, Davies Narh Korboe in an interview with Rite news explained that the Park House only accepted fruits from certified farms which is a key requirement of Global GAP.
“Fruits brought to the Pack House are only from certified farms since that’s the benchmark for export and also a requirement of the Global Good Agriculture Practices (Global GAP) and this is to ensure the safety of the fruits and possibly trace the plot in any inconvenience,” the 2009 National Best Farmer emphasized.
The NFFAWAG Chairman also underscored the readiness of Ghanaian farmers to embrace the green label policy.
“Ghanaian farmers are looking forward to the Green Label Policy that seeks to ensure eligibility standards and safety of the food supply to become the minimum standards, which is at par with requirements of Global GAP,” Farmer Davies asserted.
He stressed on the need for certification bodies like the Food and Drugs Authority, Ghana Standards Authority and other bodies to partake in the activities of the pack house to carry out inspections from the arrival of the fruits to departure to ensure that all regulations are strictly adhered to.
The NFFAWAG chairman was hopeful that the call of by the FDA was in the right direction
and can’t in any way adversely affect the activities of Cotton Weblink Limited since the company followed all standard requirements.
Countries like Kenya, he added are implementing similar procedures which is working very well for them.
Fears on BBS
Mr. Kroboe expressed fears that mango production and export in Ghana could reduce to zilch in the coming years if pragmatic measures were not taken to confront the rampaging effects of the Mango Black Bacterial disease.
He said a delegation including himself met with the Minister of Food and Agriculture out of which a new committee was formed to deliberate on finding lasting solutions to the mango BBS menace.
The astute farmer however stressed that the invasion will end only if government plays active role in efforts to eradication it.
Source: Joyce Bedeley/ritefmonline.org/jbedeley9357@gmail.com
